2009 was another poor year for the international weaving machinery market as global deliveries of shuttleless looms fell for the second consecutive year and shuttle loom deliveries for the third.

In the case of shuttleless looms, global deliveries were down by a further 3.0% to 43,417 machines— after dropping by 34.4% in the previous year. As a result, shipments remained at their lowest level since 2001. The decline in 2009 would have been much worse had it not been for a surge of 174% in shipments to mills in Bangladesh. Indeed, of the 36 largest investors in shuttleless looms in 2009, as many as 25 cut their purchases at double digit rates. Among the seven major regions, the only increase was in Asia, where the industry increased its purchases by 3.5%. In the other regions, acquisitions fell at double digit rates.

Strong growth was witnessed in a number of countries other than Bangladesh—including Belarus, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Sudan, Syria and Vietnam. But in absolute terms, these increases were more than offset by a drop in shipments to the industry in Italy.

In the case of shuttle looms, global deliveries fell by 29.2% to just 484 machines, following an 82.2% plunge in 2008. As a result, deliveries fell to their lowest ever level. The industry in India was the only major buyer in 2009, having purchased 482 machines, or 99.6% of the total. The other two shuttle looms were bought by a purchaser or purchasers in Nepal.

Table 1: Shares of shuttle looms and shuttleless looms in shipments of weaving machinery by region, 2009Table 2: Breakdown of shuttleless weaving machinery shipments by type and region, 2009Table 3: Shipments of shuttleless looms by region and leading countries of destination, 2008 and 2009Table 4: Installed capacity of shuttleless looms by region and leading countries, 2008 and 2009Table 5: Cumulative shipments of shuttleless and shuttle looms by region and leading countries of destination, 2000-09Table 6: Shipments of shuttle looms by region and leading countries of destination, 2008 and 2009Table 7: Installed capacity of shuttle looms by region and leading countries, 2008 and 2009Table 8: Installed capacity and shipments of weaving machinery by type, region and selected country, 2000-09